Research summary

The research in my group can be separated into many themes which are described below. For a full description of my group's activities and our research interests, visit www.taaoliver.com

I. Unravelling the primary photo-protection pathways in DNA

The ultraviolet component of the solar spectrum is capable of inducing damage in DNA, the genetic code of life essential for cell growth, development and function.(1) I will explore the primary photo-protection mechanisms of DNA by determining the extent of excited state delocalisation in model DNA systems, and how this prepares molecules for fast non-radiative relaxation. If excited states ...

Biography

I joined the School of Chemistry as a Royal Society University Research Fellow in 2015. Between 2011 and 2015 I was a post-doctoral research fellow at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where I developed a new optical spectroscopy, two-dimensional electronic-vibrational spectroscopy, to explore coupled electronic-nuclear motion in carotenoids and light harvesting complexes. In 2011, I obtained my PhD from the University of Bristol, under the supervision of Professor Mike Ashfold FRS. My PhD thesis focused on the non-adiabatic dynamics of small heteroaromatic molecules in the gas phase and how these dynamics transferred, or were altered, in solution.